ernst



Oct. 11, 1955 B. H. ERNST PICK-UP STITCH KNITTING NEEDLE Filed July 23,1954 INVENTOR. JESS/EH. ERNST BY 2 ATTONEY United States Patent PICK-UPSTITCH KNITTING NEEDLE Bessie H. Ernst, Chillicothe, Ill.

Application July 23, 1954, Serial No. 445,298

3 Claims. (Cl. 66-117) This invention relates to improvements inknitting needles and has for a primary object to provide a knittingneedle with means, carried by the knitting needle, for picking up adropped stitch and replacing it on the knitting needle.

Another object of this invention is to provide a small tool, designedalong the lines of a crochet hook, and to mount the tool inside the handend of a knitting needle in a manner so as not to interfere with the useof the needle but to be instantly removable therefrom and usable topick-up dropped stitches and replace them on the tip of the needle.These and ancillary objects are attained by this invention, thepreferred form of which is set forth in the following description andillustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein;

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a needle, constructed andequipped in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hand end of the needleand showing the tool in elevation and partly in section.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the tool per se; and

Figure 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Figure 2.

Quite frequentlywhen knitting, a stitch will be accidentally dropped andbefore the knitting can be continued, the stitch must be picked up andreplaced on the needle. To pick up the stitch, a pointed instrument isneeded and, usually, a crochet hook is used, since such is structurallybest suited for the task. However, time is lost in acquiring the hook.To overcome this, I provide a needle, which is equipped with a tool,simulative of a crochet hook, and which carries the tool in a manner tohave it readily available but not to interfere with proper andconvenient manipulation of the needle.

Referring to the drawing wherein like numerals designate like parts, itcan be seen that numeral 10 denotes a conventional knitting needlehaving its hand engaging end formed with an axial bore 14. This bore iscylindrical and extends inwardly from the adjacent end of the needle.Numeral 16 denotes a cap having a cylindrical skirt 17 for snugdisposition over the handle end of the needle 10 and this cap 16 whichis larger in diameter than the skirt 17 has a circular opening thereinand also a notch 18 which opens into the circular opening and forms apassageway for a lug 19 which projects 2,720,095 Patented Oct. 11, 1955laterally from the stem portion 20 of the tool generally referred to bynumeral 21, this tool having a hook 22 at one end and a fiat handle 23at its opposite end. This handle will permit easy rotation of the tool21 in order to dislodge the lug 19 from under the cap 16 and register itwith the passageway notch 18, so that the tool 21 can be removed whennecessary.

It can now be seen, that the needle 10 is used in the normal and usualway in the operation of knitting, but as frequently occurs, a stitch isdropped and a handy implement should be available to pick up that stitchand replace it on the needle 10. With the present ensemble, the tool 21can be rotated by the handle 23, thus permitting the tool to bedisplaced from the hollow end of the needle 10, so that the hook 22 canretrieve the dropped stitch and replace it on the needle 10. The toolcan be promptly replaced in the hollow end of the knitting needle forfuture use.

While the foregoing description sets forth the invention in specificterms, it is to be understood that numerous changes in the shape, sizeand materials may be resorted to without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as claimed hereinafter. Having described theinvention what is claimed as new is:

1. A knitting needle construction comprising an elongated needle havinga hand engaging end portion formed with a pocket therein and a tooldisposed into said pocket and formed with a hook for engaging andretrieving stitches dropped by said needle in the operation of knitting,said tool being provided with an external end portion defining a handle,said handle being of flattened form.

2. A knitting needle construction comprising an elongated needle havinga hand engaging end portion formed with a pocket therein and a tooldisposed into said pocket and formed with a hook for engaging andretrieving stitches dropped by said needle in the operation of knitting,said tool being provided with an external end portion defining a handle,said handle being broad and flat.

3. A knitting needle construction comprising an elongated needle havinga hand engaging end portion formed with a pocket therein and a tooldisposed into said pocket and formed with a hook for engaging andretrieving stitches dropped by said needle in the operation of knitting,a cap for the hand engaging end of the needle, said cap having anopening therethrough for receiving a portion of the tool, said cap beingformed with a notch opening into the opening, said tool being providedwith a lateral lug adapted to be engaged under the cap when the tool isto be retained in the pocket and to be displaced through the notch whenthe tool is to be removed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

